WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A former middle-school student who was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain medication won a partial victory of her Supreme Court appeal Thursday in a case testing the discretion of officials to ensure classroom safety .

Savana Redding leaves the U.S Supreme Court in April . She was 13 when she was strip-searched .

Savana Redding was 13 when administrators suspected that she was carrying banned drugs .

No medication was found , and she later sued .

The justices concluded that the search was unreasonable but that individual school administrators could not be sued .

The larger issue of whether a campus setting traditionally gives schools greater authority over students suspected of illegal activity than police are allowed was not addressed fully by the divided court .

`` Savana 's subjective expectation of privacy against such a search is inherent in her account of it as embarrassing , frightening and humiliating , '' wrote Justice David Souter for the majority , likely his last opinion before he steps down from the bench next week .

But reflecting the divisiveness over the issue , Souter said , `` We think these differences of opinion from our own are substantial enough to require immunity for the school officials in this case . ''

Whether the school district would be liable was not an issue before the high court .

`` I 'm pretty excited that they agreed with me , they see that it was wrong for the school to do that , '' Redding said from her Hobbs , New Mexico , home after the ruling was announced .

`` I 'm pretty certain that it 's so far less likely to happen again '' to other students .

Redding was an eighth-grade honor student in 2003 , with no history of disciplinary problems at Safford Middle School , about 127 miles from Tucson , Arizona .

During an investigation into pills found at the school , a student told the vice principal that Redding had given her prescription-strength 400-milligram ibuprofen pills .

The school had a near-zero-tolerance policy for all prescription and over-the-counter medication , including the ibuprofen , without prior written permission .

Redding was pulled from class by Vice Principal Kerry Wilson , escorted to an office and confronted with the evidence . The girl denied the accusations .

A search of Redding 's backpack found nothing . A strip search was conducted by Wilson 's assistant and a school nurse , both females .

Redding was ordered to strip to her underwear and to pull on the elastic of the underwear , so any hidden pills might fall out , according to court records . No drugs were found .

`` The strip search was the most humiliating experience I have ever had , '' Redding said in an affidavit . `` I held my head down so that they could not see that I was about to cry . ''

Souter said Wilson initially had `` sufficient suspicion '' to justify searching the girl 's backpack and outer clothing . But when no contraband was found , the officials went too far by continuing the search of her underwear .

With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union , Redding and her family sued , and a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled against the school , calling the search `` traumatizing '' and illegal . That court said the school went too far in its effort to create a drug - and crime-free classroom .

The Supreme Court found little agreement on key issues . Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg agreed that the search was illegal but would have also made individual officials liable for damages by Redding .

`` Wilson 's treatment of Redding was abusive , and it was not reasonable for him to believe that the law permitted it , '' said Ginsburg , who was especially forceful during oral arguments in April , criticizing the school 's actions .

But Justice Clarence Thomas took the opposite view : that administrators deserved immunity and that the search was permissible .

`` Preservation of order , discipline and safety in public schools is simply not the domain of the Constitution , '' he said . `` And , common sense is not a judicial monopoly or a constitutional imperative . ''

In 1985 , the high court allowed the search of a student 's purse after she was suspected of hiding cigarettes . Such a search was permitted if there were `` reasonable '' grounds for believing that it would turn up evidence and when the search was not `` excessively intrusive . ''

Opinions in 1995 and 2001 allowed schools to conduct random drug testing of high school athletes and those participating in other extracurricular activities .

The court was being asked to clarify the extent of student rights involving searches and the discretion of officials regarding those they have responsibility over .

Adam Wolf , an ACLU attorney who represented Redding , applauded the decision .

`` When parents send their kids to school , they can now breathe a sigh of relief they will not end up naked before school officials , '' Wolf said .

But school administrators said the ruling does not make their jobs any easier .

`` The home medicine cabinet now poses a serious threat to students , who may take those medications for abusive purposes , '' said Francisco Negron , general counsel for the National School Boards Association . `` That 's a problem schools are trying to stem . ''

`` How they determine now whether the drug is dangerous , whether it 's not dangerous -- that kind of clarity and that kind of guidance , the court did not give us . ''

Redding , now 19 , said she has never gotten over her experience .

`` Before it happened , I loved school , loved everything about it . You know , I had a 4.0 GPA , honor roll , and now , well , afterwards I never wanted to go to school again . ''

She is attending college .

The case is Safford Unified School District No. 1 v. Redding -LRB- 08-479 -RRB- .

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Savana Redding was 13 when administrators suspected she was carrying drugs

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No medication was found , and she later sued

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Justices : Search was unreasonable , but individual school officials ca n't be sued

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Redding , now 19 , has said she has never gotten over her experience